Puma Reference Video

I came across this great video of an animal trainer and a puma. The puma is chasing a toy on a stick that the animal trainer is moving around. The puma is incredibly agile and this video shows so many animation principles in action.

Just a few principles and major points in the action I see:

1. Timing is the big thing in this video. The puma is planning ahead on how and when to attack the toy. So his movements are so exact and fluid that when he does jump into the air, he almost floats and the hang time is amazing.
2. As the puma runs and runs up the wall, his body squashes and stretches. It shows how important this principle is and how it makes his body not only look organic and flexible, but it looks strong and muscular.
3. I love how the puma runs up the wall and how it pauses and kicks himself off.
4. The arcs that the puma creates is so smooth. Makes me want to animate a cat.

There are plenty of more things to breakdown and analyze. I watched this video a bunch of times. It also shows that I never want to come across a puma because I might risk getting my face ripped off. Enjoy I hope that this video will help you in your animation. I'll keep a look out for really good references and archive on a new page here on my blog under the REFRENCES, and on my Youtube channels. Click HERE and HERE for my Youtube channels and please subscribe!

Later Animators!